Grateful Reyes hoping to stick around

By MARC TOPKIN and EDUARDO A. ENCINA, Times Staff Writers
Published September 23, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Al Reyes doesn't know what it is.

He feels fine. He prepares the same way. He throws the same pitches.

But he can't get the Red Sox out when it matters,

For the third time in six weeks, the Sox rallied to beat Reyes. He has blown four saves in 28 chances, and three are against the Sox.

"I missed a couple of locations," Reyes said. "A team like that, they're looking for mistakes. And they see that and they jump right away."

In eight games against Boston, Reyes is 0-3 with a 10.29 ERA, allowing eight runs on 13 hits (including four home runs).

On Aug. 14, Mike Lowell tied it with a homer. On Sept.12, it was a walkoff shot by David Ortiz. Saturday, Jason Varitek homered to lead off the ninth, and three batters later Julio Lugo delivered a two-run shot.

"After seeing Carlos Pena hit the second home run and we go ahead by one, and then you lose the game after that comeback, you feel bad," Reyes said. "It's something you think about."

Reyes, whose ERA climbed to 5.15, has allowed 13 homers, most among major-league relievers.

The bad result came on a night when Reyes hit two more bonus levels in his contract, pushing his total of incentives to $1.3-million, along with his $750,000 salary, and increasing his base salary for next season to $2.3-million, assuming the Rays, as epxetected, pick up his 2008 option.

KING CARLOS: Though the outcome was disappointing, Pena continues to add to his remarkable comeback season, extending his team-record and personal-best home run total to 42 with a record-tying fourth multihomer game, and all in a 26-game span. "It's great but it's so tough to enjoy when we were three outs away from really having a party," he said. ... How imposing has Pena become? Sox manager Terry Francona said during the seventh-inning at-bat against Javier Lopez, Pena "is standing there looking like he's about 6-foot-8."

HIM AGAIN: Today's Red Sox starter, knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who is 19-2 against the Rays, is unbeaten in 19 appearances under the controlled elements of Tropicana Field (9-0 with a 2.16 ERA) and has allowed one run over 13 innings in two starts at the Trop this season. But the Rays scored seven earned runs in three innings off Wakefield 12 days ago in Boston, and manager Joe Maddon believes that will help his team today.

"I think the fact that we did well against him last time matters," Maddon said. "It matters in regard to what he's thinking and it matters in regard that we know we can do it now, although it wasn't in this building."

MISCELLANY: The Rays have struck out an AL record 1,270 times; the major-league record is 1,399. ... Top draft pick David Price reported to instructional league but won't pitch in games as he's staying only two weeks before going back to classes at Vanderbilt. ... RF Delmon Young became the ninth AL rookie in the past 50 years with 180 hits. ... LF Carl Crawford sat out his fifth straight game with a left groin strain and remains day to day. ... 2B Brendan Harris fielded balls at 2B and SS, a step toward returning from a left lat strain.

[Last modified September 23, 2007, 01:17:30]